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NEW YORK — You’d have trouble finding a coach with more love and reverence for the tradition of the ACC Tournament than Hubert Davis.
Tar Heels great Walter “Sweet D” Davis, his uncle, played in it for Carolina and won titles in 1975 and 1977. The first-year UNC head coach was part of the March tradition as a player and got plenty of experience as a UNC assistant coach at the event for nine seasons.
NEW YORK — For much of the night, it looked like Carolina’s Brady Manek could single-handedly beat Virginia. He nearly did for one half. With his teammates also playing well, it was an easy evening for the Tar Heels, who steamrolled the Cavaliers 63–43 in the last ACC Tournament quarterfinal Thursday night at the Barclays Center.
NEW YORK — That feeling of defeat. That’s how Duke center Mark Williams described the final minutes of the Blue Devils’ 94–81 loss Saturday to North Carolina at Cameron Indoor Stadium. With Syracuse threatening to give Mike Krzyzewski a loss in his final ACC Tournament on top of the loss the coach suffered in his final home game, that feeling motivated Williams.
It’s been a challenging season for the Orlando but the Magic have hit a nice stretch with four wins in the last seven games with the help of Cole Anthony. Anthony scored had 19 points and three 3-pointers with five assists in 24 efficient minutes Wednesday night as Orlando held on at home to beat New Orleans 108–99 on Wednesday night.
NEW YORK — Streaking North Carolina has the full attention of Virginia coach Tony Bennett as his Cavaliers make a quick turnaround after a 51–50 win over Louisville late Wednesday night in the second round of the ACC Tournament. No. 6-seed Virginia (19–12) gets the chance to avenge a 74–58 Jan. 8 loss to the No. 3-seed Tar Heels (23–8) in the quarterfinals Thursday night at 9:30 (ESPN) at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
NEW YORK — Hubert Davis wasn’t focused on the hype before Carolina’s big upset at Duke on Saturday and that didn’t change in the aftermath of the game. It was all about Coach Mike Krzyzewski in the days before the game and much of the talk afterward was about the historic aspects of the Tar Heels ruining his final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. But Davis focused on the big picture throughout, and where his No. 3-seed and No. 18-ranked Tar Heels are heading into the ACC Tournament. He loves how RJ Davis has become a huge floor leader and Caleb Love has become a dependable finisher, among many other improved areas.
Current Carolina players are exposed to much more information about opponents than they got in the days when Coach Hubert Davis was playing for the legendary Dean Smith. While Davis believes and follows the reasoning behind that approach, he gives players more insights on player tendencies than Smith did.
There has been a lot of talk about Duke assistant coach Chris Carrawell snubbing UNC coach Hubert Davis in the handshake line after Saturday’s game. There were also suggestions from the Duke side that it was because Davis didn’t shake hands with the assistant coaches before Carolina’s historic 94–81 victory to ruin Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final Cameron Indoor Stadium game.
Sometimes the best individual games in the NBA come in losses and that was the case Monday night for Harrison Barnes and Coby White, whose teams couldn’t overcome big nights from opposing stars. Barnes scored 23 points and three 3-pointers in Sacramento’s 131–115 home loss to New York and White had 19 points and three 3-pointers in Chicago’s 121–106 defeat at Philadelphia.
North Carolina slipped two spots to No. 18 in the latest AP Top 25 women’s basketball poll after losing to Virginia Tech in an ACC Tournament quarterfinal game Friday. All but one team below UNC in last week’s poll that played lost at least one game and the two teams ahead of the Tar Heels (23–6) in last week’s poll also lost.
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